1996-017 September 12, 1996
KDD will land the SEA-ME-WE3 cable and the FLAG cable to its submarine cable landing stations and invest a total of some ´10 billion in the two cable systems. Both optical-fiber submarine cables are planned to be laid between Asia and Europe.
The SEA-ME-WE3 cable was initially scheduled to be laid between the U.K. and Singapore/Malaysia. A basic agreement was reached, however, among the carriers participating in the cable construction to extend the cable route to Far East Asia including Japan. SEA-ME-WE3 cable will be landed on approximately 30 countries with about 30,000 km of total cable length.
In Japan, KDD plans to land the cable at KDD Okinawa Submarine Cable Landing Station. This will make the landing station a key point for large-capacity optical-fiber submarine cables along with those of Chikura and Miyazaki.
By employing an optical amplification system(*1) and the world's first optical wavelength division multiplexing system(*2), the cable realizes maximum capacity on the order of 40 Gbps (equal to approximately 480,000 telephone circuits). The cable's entire route is slated to being operation in March 1999. The total construction cost of the cable will be approximately US$1,200 million.
The FLAG cable, on the other hand, will be landed on twelve countries between Japan and the U.K. KDD Submarine Cable Systems Inc. and AT&T Submarine Systems Inc. won the bid to construct the cable with a capacity of 10 Gbps (equal to some 120,000 telephone circuits). It is now under installation works by KDD-SCS and AT&T-SSI by applying state-of-art technology to commence the service in October 1997.
The three companies, KDD and the cable construction principals FLAG Ltd. and International Digital Communications Inc., have agreed to add KDD Ninomiya Submarine Cable Landing Station to the cable landing sites in Japan. As a result, the FLAG cable will be landed in Japan at two locations in addition to IDC Miura Station to further improve the reliability of the cable.
KDD has also played active roles in the construction of other optical-fiber submarine cables, particularly those in the Asia-Pacific region. Since investing in TPC-3, the first optical-fiber submarine cable across the Pacific Ocean in 1989, KDD has invested more than 100 billion yen. KDD intends to continue to make aggressive efforts to enable the transmission of large-volume information in anticipation of the multimedia age.
Note
*1: Optical amplification system
A method of amplifying optical signals, which attenuate as they travel over a cable, as optical signals without feeding them through electric circuits. This system makes it possible to transmit optical signals on relatively low and constant power consumption even when the communication capacity increases.
*2: Optical Wavelength division multiplexing system
A method whereby many optical signals with different wavelengths are transmitted over a single optical fiber. The system enables the transmission of a large amount of information.
[Reference]
SEA-ME-WE3 Cable
(South East Asia - Middle East - Western Europe)
| 1. | Operation scheduled to begin | : | December 1998 (initially scheduled portion) March 1999 (extended portion) |
| 2. | Capacity | : | 40 Gbps max. |
| 3. | Telephone line equivalent | : | 480,000 lines max. |
| 4. | Total length | : | Approximately 30,000 km. |
| 5. | Landing countries | : | Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, France, U.K. (total of approximately 30 countries) |
| 6. | Total construction cost | : | Approximately US$1,200 million (approximately 132 billion yen) |
FLAG Cable
(Fiberoptic Link Around the Globe)
| 1. | Operation scheduled to begin | : | October 1997 |
| 2. | Capacity | : | 10 Gbps |
| 3. | Telephone line equivalent | : | Approximately 120,000 lines |
| 4. | Total length | : | Approximately 27,000 km. |
| 5. | Landing countries | : | Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, India, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Italy, Spain, U.K. (total of 12 countries) |
| 6. | Total construction cost | : | Approximately US$1,200 million (approximately 132 billion yen) |
Profile of KDD Submarine Cable Systems Inc.
A wholly-owned KDD subsidiary, the company provides construction and consultation services for optical-fiber submarine cables. Main office is in Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo. President is Yasuhiko Niiro.
Profile of AT&T Submarine Systems Inc.
A wholly-owned subsidiary of American carrier AT&T, the company supplies telecommunication cables. Main office is located in New Jersey, United States. President is W.B. Carter.